I actually mentioned this in my previous post but wanted to give it its own item. A new issue of PW Comics World, the monthly newsletter co-edited by myself and Calvin Reid, came out yesterday and, if I do say so myself, it’s chock full of interesting reading. You can see the whole issue here but why not subscribe if you haven’t already? It’s free.

“We’ve sold countless issues of Saga,” says Ryan Moran, ordering manager of Meltdown Comics, “we might as well be printing them ourselves, we can’t keep them in stock.” Every comics retailer we spoke with who sells single issue periodicals listed Saga among their top three best-sellers in periodical comics and the majority of retailers surveyed listed the first collected trade as their number one selling book format comic.

There’s also a piece on Ed Piskor’s upcoming Hip Hop history, and Deb Aoki’s coverage of Image Expo, including the above iconic image of Matt Fraction.

Hibbs compared Image Expo to other publishers’ road shows for retailers, and preferred what he experienced at Image Expo 2013.

“I’ve been to DC’s roadshows, and they’re all about pushing product, like their figures and stuff,” Hibbs said. “With Image Expo, it’s all about content! They’re telling me about books that I’ll want to sell. I prefer this, because it’s a collaborative relationship (with Image) rather than being sold to.”

Anyway, sorry for the hype, but I think Beat readers will enjoy much of this month’s content if they haven’t seen it already.

Heidi MacDonald is the founder and editor in chief of The Beat. In the past, she worked for Disney, DC Comics, Fox and Publishers Weekly. She can be heard regularly on the More To Come Podcast. She likes coffee, cats and noble struggle.

Yeah, a great read this month. Good to see the comics carrying stores doing so well, all things considered. And I like the idea of locally successful comic creators. Kinda like how some bands are huge in certain cities or areas of the country and completely unknown in others.

This article does put a lot of scrutiny on Diamond yet again. They’re lagging behind outside Marvel and DC comics. But its good to see indie comics sellers have other options besides just them now.